It's up to voters to force Democrats not to coast and duck controversy, and to discourage the Republicans from attacking without specific solutions.

By lawrence c. levy

Published 1:00 am, Sunday, June 6, 2010

After two weeks of stuffing themselves with the red meat of political rhetoric -- and the liquid carbs in the ubiquitous hospitality suites -- the state's two major parties leave their conventions with more serious questions than settled candidacies.

The uncommon plethora of primaries may promise an entertaining summer for political junkies, but the lack of clarity will leave voters not knowing for months who is running in many key races and how the candidates will engage.

That's too bad. Whether it's the federal government or state government, the list of problems is long. According to a recent Hofstra-Cablevision poll I organized, more than 80 percent of New York voters are angry or frustrated with state government. A slightly smaller number don't like what's going on in Washington.

But it's up to voters to force Democrats not to coast and duck controversy -- which front-runners usually like to do -- and to discourage the Republicans from attacking without specific solutions. If voters fail, they will get the campaign they deserve, not the one they need.

Everyone is running against the "culture of corruption ... and dysfunction" of state government. That includes the so-called New Democrats who have completely controlled the state for nearly two years and the Republicans who dominated for the 14 years before.

The Republicans face more uncertainties, including multiple primaries for a party that rarely sees any. The GOP convention saw several old-fashioned floor fights, horse-trading and the creative hijacking of the podium by tea party-backed insurgent Carl Paladino, who threatened to "clean up Albany ... with a baseball bat."

No doubt a few Republicans reflexively ducked -- just as many Democrats did when their standardbearer, Andrew Cuomo, devoted much of his soaring acceptance speech to bashing the state on which they rely for their livelihoods.

Republicans need to worry about whether the tea party movement will push their candidates too far to the right in primaries, or even the general election, for the moderate voters who decide close elections. That's especially true of gubernatorial designee Rick Lazio, who beat back a spirited challenge from Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy by exploiting personal feuds between key leaders. Lazio is likely to face Paladino if the wealthy Buffalo businessman can petition his way onto the primary ballot.

Lazio not only has to worry about alienating moderates if he tacks even farther to right than he did to secure the Conservative Party nomination. The former Long Island congressman, who lost badly to Hillary Clinton in the 2000 U.S. Senate race, also has to avoid angering the tea party types, the most energized part of the Republican base. It's a delicate dance.

In the race to unseat U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the party will have a primary between two, and possibly three, candidates who certainly can benefit from the name recognition that this qualifying contest could give them. But they will have to spend what little money they have, and be forced to run to the right to appeal to right-wing activists.

Meanwhile, the two Republicans most likely to emerge for the primary, Bruce Blakeman and David Malpass, will not have the Conservative Party endorsement. No Republican has won statewide in two generations without it.

Democrats aren't immune from uncertainty. They face a five-way primary for attorney geneeral. And they would be kidding themselves if they don't think they face questions that could threaten their dominance. That even extends to Cuomo -- often derided as "King Cuomo" or "Prince Andrew" at the Republican convention -- no matter how hard he tries to distance himself from the problems of the state or from people in his own party.

Will voters continue to buy Cuomo's contention that he shouldn't be held responsible for what angers voters, even though he was elected on a ticket with Eliot Spitzer, David Paterson and the legislative leaders who draw the most ire?

Will Republicans be able to rev up their base by connecting Cuomo to his dad, liberal icon Mario Cuomo?

Will Cuomo be tarred by charges, made at the GOP convention, that the housing collapse had its seeds during his tenure as secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development?

Then there's the surprising lack of a minority candidate on the Democratic ticket. Even as he quoted Martin Luther King Jr. and peppered the stage with black and Latinos, Cuomo's failure to chose a minority as lieutenant governor could hurt him.

While blacks and Latinos aren't likely to vote for the Republican over such a snub, they might stay home.

Cuomo, who upset blacks by running against Carl McCall in 2002, also has to be careful about criticizing Paterson, New York's first black governor and now its least popular politician.

Other questions remain. Can Cuomo take a punch without losing his cool as he did in 2002?

Will voters want to punish at least one member of the ticket? They elected a Republican comptroller during 20 years of Democratic governorships.

In other words, are voters angry enough to want some Democratic blood, even if it may not be Cuomo's?